Blackhawk Down
Eight survive chopper crash in Queensland.
PILOT error is suspected as the cause of a Black Hawk helicopter crash which left six soldiers injured and the $25 million aircraft destroyed near Amberley RAAF base southwest of Brisbane yesterday. The army helicopter with eight on board was on a training exercise when it reportedly clipped trees and ploughed into a cow paddock at Mt Walker, 12km southwest of Amberley about 10.30am.The press release condemns the Trainee Pilot who after recovering from the crash will most probably be a trainee landrover driver.
A trainee pilot, 23, and his instructor, 33, were at the controls with four other trainees and two loadmasters in the cabin. It is not clear whether the instructor or his co-pilot had control of the helicopter at the time of the crash.Update: From Defence Media
Of the eight persons on board, six members suffered injuries. The current status of the injuries as of this morning is: – One member suffered a spinal fracture and will undergo surgery over the weekend. – One member suffered breaks to his wrist and knee and is recovering from surgery. – Two members received minor injuries and are being held for observation at Amberley Base medical facilities. – One member sustained minor injuries and is being held at Royal Brisbane Hospital for observation. – One member sustained neck trauma similar to whiplash and is being held at Princess Alexandra Hospital. – The other two members are being held for observation at Enoggera Army Base Hospital
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I’d just like to say Kev, that the media can politely stick their conjecture in their ass. Having somewhat of a personal interest in this event makes me somewhat peeved when I read outright rubbish such as this.
Wait for the results of the investigation, then gob off. Better yet, perhaps they could just fuck off!
Nasty! I feel for the guys. I went down in a Huey after a blade strike once. A sinking feeling……respectful pun intended.
This is terrible.
Is there any word on what caused it yet?
1. Accident was not caused by mechanical failure.
2. Pilot was NOT doing a ‘pedal turn’ as previously quoted.
3. Aircraft was not practicing for a rescue exercise. It was low-level defensive manouvering conducted against a ground attack jet, namely the RAAF Hawk
4. There was no Mayday call. An automatic beacon was activated, and the Hawk pilot spotted the crashed aircraft and two guys waving at him in the paddock.
5. Civil agencies took just under an hour to arrive on the scene. First to arrive after 25 minutes was RAAF Amberley’s medical response team and firefighters.
6. Police and ambulance supervisors took 2 hours to decide where to send walking wounded. 3 military utility helicopters waited on the ground for this period, and eventually civil aircraft flew them out.
7. Probable cause was the aircraft experiencing ‘nose slice’ where lift available is not sufficient to keep aircraft flying in a hard turn at speed. Aircraft simply corkscrewed in it would appear, hitting trees on way down.
8. Members of the military at the rescue site had their families contacted by members of the press, harassing them for details. In this day and age, these vermin will do anything for a scoop.
9. All injured had been stabilised for up to an hour prior to evacuation. Lucky no-one was going to die in a hurry.
10. These comments will self destruct in 30 seconds.